Crown-of thorns starfish begin life as a tiny swimming
larvae and settle onto coral reefs at the size of only 0.5mm
in diameter.
These small starfish feed on algae and live amongst dead
coral rubble teeming with large numbers of other animals,
including predatory crabs and shrimps, which may eat the small
starfish.
As they grow, the starfish must emerge from the protection
of the coral rubble to feed on live corals. When they do this
they expose themselves to other types of predators, such as
fish.
We need to know what types of animals eat small
crown-of-thorns starfish, and at what rates they feed. This
information will enable us to understand the important factors
which effect the numbers of starfish which actually survive to
adulthood on reefs.
To study this problem, we grow the small starfish in the
AIMS laboratory and deploy them in cages on the reef in order
to measure survival rates.
